Melville Koppies Central is the oldest part of the nature
reserve. It was proclaimed in 1959. In 1963 an Iron Age smelting
furnace was excavated by archaeologist Revil Mason, who as a student in
the 1950s had picked up "Fauresmith" - Middle Stone Age - tools on the
Koppies.
The Iron Age Furnace showing the tuyeres
- clay pipes to which leather bellows were attached. It probably took
two days of constant labour to reach and sustain the 1 400 degree
Celsius temperature needed to smelt iron. Behind the furnace excavation
to a depth of a metre revealed a Middle Stone living floor.
There are remains of many stone walled kraals on the northern
slopes of the Central section, and there is a partially reconstructed
kraal near the furnace.
These kraals belong to a tradition known as the "Central
Cattle Pattern", and thousands of ruins like these are found on the
highveld. They represent the flourishing Iron Age culture of the Bantu
speaking immigrants who began entering South Africa over 1 000
years ago, displacing the older hunter gatherers - the San or Bushmen.
A Late Stone Age living floor can be seen, with the
characteristic tiny flaked tools used by the hunter-gatherers of the
time.
The ecology of Melville Koppies Central is determined by the
climate, the geology and also the 50 years of intensive conservation
effort since its proclamation.
Melville Koppies Central, seen from the West.
Notice the barren crests and the densely forested area at bottom left.
In the foreground the glossy leaves of the Stamvrug growing in
the rocks of Melville Koppies West.
There are five different micro-environments.
On the northern slopes where the soil is deep there is climax
grassland, mostly composed of Thatching Grass (Hyparrhenia hirta).
The rocky crests have thin soil and are exposed to the severe
winter frosts. Here the grasses are more varied and include the
Three-awn (Aristida) species, the beautiful Russet grass (Loudetia
simplex), and in late summer the bronze sheen of Boat Grass (Monocymbium
ceresiiforme). In the rocks on the crests the Wild Apricot (Ancylobotris
capensis) and the Transvaal Milkplum (Englerophytum
magalismontanum) - or in Afrikaans the Stamvrug - flourish
in a hostile environment.
Bernice Aspoas, one of our most experienced
guides, in the forest with guests.
The north-western part of the reserve is densely forested.
This is partly because this part of the reserve is underlain by very
ancient - more than three billion year old - greenstone, which
decomposes to a rich deep soil, and partly because the reserve is
protected from fires. The forest is dominated by Brack Thorn Acacia (Acacia
robusta) and Blue Gwarrie (Euclea crispa).
The southern slopes are particularly exposed to frost, so
there is little tree cover, except for the Protea caffra, which
also likes the acidic soil in the the shale valleys.
The gabbro intrusion in the spruit, seen from
the bridge.
Finally, the spruit (stream) which flows along the western
boundary provides a special environment of its own. Here huge White
Stinkwood (Celtis africana) dominate, but there are also very
large River Bushwillows (Combretum erythrophyllum), Wild Olive
trees (Olea europea), and Wild Peach (Kiggelaria africana).
In the stream bed there is an outcrop of igneous rock -
Gabbro - which is the remains of a two billion year old intrusion into
the earth's crust.
This stream, the Westdene Spruit, is one of the many streams
flowing north from the Witwatersrand watershed. Among them are the
Braamfontein Spruit and the Jukskei, and they all eventually join to
become tributaries of the Limpopo, so in theory at least this water is
headed to Xai-Xai on the coast of Mocambique.